Customer Reviews

Montezuma's Revenge

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Souls of Mischief have just released their first album in over 9 years entitled "Montezuma's Revenge." The album was produced by the legendary Prince Paul behind hip-hop classics from De La Soul, Gravediggaz, Stetsasonic and Handsome Boy Modelling School. Souls of Mischief stormed onto the rap scene when they were just 17 years old releasing hip-hop classics like 93 til infinity. That track is still much loved and their first album is considered one of the best hip-hop albums ever released. They followed it up with the much maligned "No Man's Land." This album remains one of the most underrated rap albums ever released. The sound was in stark contrast to their first album but the lyrics and flows were still unparalleled for the time. Souls of Mischief were always way ahead of their time. They were dropping cadences, styles and multi-syllabic flows that the rap industry is just catching on to now almost 15 years later. Their third album "Trilogy" was in much the same vein as their first 2, sticking to the tried and true formula of ridiculous lyrics over crazy beats.

Montezuma's Revenge is a new era for the Souls. They are all older, a bit more mature, and yet with this album they've retained that timeless `93 style hip-hop sound. Much credit has to go to Prince Paul for getting the very best out of Souls. Prince Paul knows how to make an album. In this age of Itunes and people only downloading tracks they like, "the album" is almost dead. Prince Paul has created something that is complete and is best consumed as such. The entire album flows from beginning to end and it covers so many styles.

I don't think you will ever find a better rap group than Souls of Mischief. They are a unified force, they come together as one and smack you over the head with those ridiculous flows and lyrical gymnastics. It is not simply a track with 4 rappers each dropping a verse. They combine together as duos or together as a foursome like in "Fourmation" dropping one line each. They follow on from each others rhymes, they drop in and out like tag team specialists.

What is special about this album is that it isn't just the tried and true hiero formula of non stop battle lyrics. They have created great songs here. "For Real Y'all" is just a driving bassline with Opio hitting the chorus over and over again. It just bumps. The hooks are also back on track. On Trilogy they become unnecessarily long and unwieldy. Things are kept simple here, Prince Paul using samples in "La La" or a simple "Tour stories, true stories" in Tour Stories. It often work's best and its why 93 til infinity still sounds good today. Think of "Never No More" as the blueprint. The topics are still varied from crazy women in "Postal," leaving women in "Lickety Split," and storytelling tracks like "You got it" and "Dead Man Walking." This combined with the signature hiero bangers like "Hiero HQ," "One," and "Poets." It's finished off withe summer BBQ track "Home Game," which really deserves a single and a music video to be released in summer 2010. That would surely help blow up the album. The track has a great feel reminiscent of other hiero hits like "You Never Knew" and "93 til Infinity."

I think what Souls of Mischief does is create albums that you can listen to over and over again. Don't listen to some reviewer who's played it a couple of times amongst 20 albums he is reviewing and given it 3 and a half stars. This album is a classic that you can listen to over and over again and till you can recite every verse. The beats are incredible, the flows and rhymes on point and the vibe an era of hip-hop in 93/94 that has never been matched. Prince Paul has always got the sound of the tracks right. Everything is not crisp and clear, he's intentionally made it sound like something from the early 90s.

Take "Proper Aim." Surely one of the greatest Souls of Mischief's tracks ever. A thick double bass line comes roaring in. Vinyl crackles, kicks and snares and the Souls hit you with that trademark flow. It really gets no better and is a great example of the quality of the album.

93 til' infinity was one of my favorite tracks of all time. Now i've got a few more favorites!!!!!
Song titles - "One" and "Tour Stories" are both wicked tracks. But Fourmation is sick beat beautifully mastered that I just can't stop listening to!! Jeez man, this album is great. I missed these guys for soo long. Ah, and one last track to note.. "For Real Y'all"... That's the track I want to hear before a fight or a nasty football game!! Get you PUMPED .. lol

I haven't bought a hip hop album in few years.. these dudes torched the mic! they always do.. best music purchase i've made in a while..lol

Something crazy is happening to me... in the past year and a half I have been freaking on old-school hip-hop (the essence). I've never payed any attention to it before (I'm 23 now). My cd collection mostly consists of stuff like: Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Of Montreal, Elliott Smith, Neil Young, Bright Eyes, Stereolab, Leonard Cohen, Pixies, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Fugazi, Gorillaz, etc., etc.

But damn have I been missing out! From Ultramagnetic MCs and Kool Keith (Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Masters of Illusion, Project Polaroid) to KMD and MF Doom; Gang Starr and the Guru; Souls of Mischief and Del; Wu-Tang Clan, Genius/GZA, the RZA, Raekwon; Madlib/Quasimoto - behind the boards of Madvillain!; Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth; A Tribe Called Quest.... I could keep going. I have spent so much friggin money trying to catch up on all this

Anyway... This album has got "the essence" and more! 5 Stars all the way. Great beats and production, great lyrics and rhymes. These guys are friggin legitimate for doing what they do! Poets of a culture very different from my own. But I get it, I think. heh.

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm rather picky when it comes to the "music" aspect of hip hop, so I'm not going to say anything about the production on this CD. My rating is based solely on what I think of the flows. I want to say that these cats have come a long way, but at the same time I don't want to give the impression that they weren't nice back in the '93 til Infinity' days. They were. However, personally I couldn't get into 'No Man's Land' or even 'Third Eye Vision'(the first Hiero release) too much. In particular, 'No Man's Land' seemed a bit flat to me. But looking back I guess these were necessary parts of the process, especially when I think about how much they all have improved lyrically over the past decade and now in this new release.

Simply put, as of today, I think that flow-wise Souls may be the strongest hip hop group I've ever heard, and I've been listening to hip hop since the beginning. I mean, for those who thought Hieroglyphics was just Del, Pep and Opio (and maybe Casual), I think you've been sleeping on Tajai(who for me was the only one who showed up on 'No Man's Land'), A+ and Phesto. They are all lyrically on point on this album, and it's all still in that cheeky, fresh Cali style that has always characterized them. You should definitely check it out.

The newest album from the fantastic four hailing from Oakland, Ca is what hip hop needed. You can listen to this album from the beginning till end.

I WAS 15 WHEN 93 UNTIL CAME OUT I WAS ONE OF THE FEW BKLYN DUDES BUMPING THAT ALBUM AND WAS IN LOVED, NOW 18 YRS LATER I FEEL LIKE A KID AGAIN AFTER NOT BEING ABLE TO GET INTO NO MANS LAND I GOT TO ADMIT THAT I GAVE UP ON THE FOURSOME,,BUT TAKE MY WORD WHEN I SAY THIS ALBUM IS PURE DOPNESS...PRINCE PAUL ON THE BEAT THESE KATS RIP IT ..A NUST BUY FOR ANY TRU HIP HOP FAN
FAV TRACK TOUR STORIES ,LALALA WONI,PROPER AIM
BIG UP PRINCE PAUL MIGHT BE HIS BEST WK SINCE 3 FT HIGH AND RISING

One look at the artwork and i suddenly had this feeling that what i wanted to hear would be brought forward on this release! Amazing lyrics were expected but the ability to flow over prince paul beats didn't come as a surprise but, an experience of a life time is what i am left with! Honestly, this is truely one of my top 5 favorite albums ever made!

I love this album! Definitely a must buy, if not it's your loss. After listening to this album you wish you didn't so you could listen to it for the first time again. I think it's that good. And that's my two cents.

As previous reviewers have said Tajai, A Plus, Opio and Phes Rock all deliver scorching 16's over these bangin beats from Opio, Prince Paul and Domino. Montezuma's revenge is one of the best albums of 2009-10. The album is a smooth ride from harder lyrical murder tracks like Fourmation and Hiero HQ to smoother Northern Cali slappers like Tour Stories and Home Game.
They have something for every mood with their albums. You get sample heavy classic hiphop with the '93 debut. You get mid 90's Oaktown playa sound with their standard verbal murder on No Man's Land. You get a P-Funk influenced sound and West coast indie pioneer vibe on '01's Conflict, resolution. All the albums have one constant: intelligent, masterful rhyming.